British Explorer Prepares To Dig Up 140 Mint Condition Spitfires Buried In 1945

More than 25 years ago, British farmer David Cundall overheard a
comment from a group of U.S. veterans who said they buried an
unused fleet of World War II
Spitfires in the Burmese jungle.

The rumor wedged itself in his mind and he resisted it for more
than 10 years before finally satisfying his curiosity.

The satisfaction didn't come cheap, and over the last 15 years
Cundall spent $210,000 of his savings on trips to Myanmar, the
country formerly known as Burma, looking for the aircraft before
finding them earlier this year.
Now he's been given the government's permission to dig them
up.

The original find was thought to be about 20 planes, but updated
estimates put that number at 140.

So
as we wrote when Cundall announced his find, the Spitfires
are buried in the original crates with their wings folded back
along their bodies, covered in grease and wax paper. Their joints
are even tarred and they're expected to be in pristine condition.

The Americans buried the planes, covered them with 40 feet of
soil and assumed the British would be back later to dig them up
and wipe them off, but the RAF never bothered.

At the close of World War II, Spitfires fell out of favor as
newer, faster jets were rolled off the production line.

This wholesale scrapping of such a romanticized fighter had a few
interesting results: It prompted a lot of conspiracy theories,
reduced the number of Spitfires flying today to a lucrative 35,
and prompted searches for buried planes throughout the Pacific.

A rumored stash in Queensland, Australia is supposed to hold up
to 232
Spitfires, but despite perennial searching, none have yet
been found.

Which is why Cundall's find is kind of a big deal in these
circles. Because the Spitfires are in Burma, they could be
everywhere else they're rumored to be.

And the payoff to find them is great. Cundall's partner bought a
refinished Spitfire for 1.74 million pounds in 2009, about $2.5
million dollars today. One-hundred-forty Spitfires sold at that
price would bring in $350 million.

The news is still rippling outside aviation circles and finding a
warm welcome with auto collectors who feared all the good "barn
cars" had been found.